A lot of quality (Read : Commonly used) ingredients for Alchemy seem to be overly rare.
There are stockpiles of some in certain areas that are level restricted, and while this may promote some bit of interaction or RP between people it really only forces metagaming of the quest drops and puts heavy limitation on higher level alchemists. You can watch for sendings daily from a large group of people all seeking the same thing because they can no longer acquire them anywhere else and are restricted from a certain zone.
Others that should likely come in bulk are often rare and just as difficult to come by. Certain feathers are a good example of this. (a DM even had trouble finding them after regular methods in-game failed)
I recall when the system was being remade and after it's completion it was stated that common substitutes could be used to create the same thing, this has proven to be almost completely untrue. A change in even a non "key" ingredient tends to result in something entirely different, and a change in key ingredients obviously makes it a different recipe.
Short Version / actual suggestion - Increase the locations that many ingredients can be found, especially outside of quest areas, and possibly allow easier substitution of non-key and common ingredients. (Orc teeth, quartz, feathers, powders)
Orc teeth are rare?
Quote"and possibly allow easier substitution of non-key and common ingredients. (Orc teeth,..."
Apparently not? :)
Not all bears seem to have asses (//%22http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TwentyBearAsses%22).
Why don't we place certain alchemy ingredients in the Sunken Enclave, via exploration/random areas?
Would make sense for folks to go down there, and this way it becomes worth it in order to harvest alchemical ingredients.
Another Idea, is to pay those that have access to said quests to get you alchemical reagents. Some lower quests have certain ones, that are not found many other places, and some higher level quests do. IF you no longer have access to a quest, seems a ripe opportunity to interact with the player base to get them. In fact, some folks even have business's around supplying alchemical regents.
Yes, although the quest which drops the most alchemy is not known in-character to do that. There are no clues about the type of enemies, so it's metagaming to send people in there to look for it. This is unfortunate and could probably just be fixed with a few hints near the quest placeable.
All quests should drop some random reagents, i'm talking about rakashka's eyes or slaad tongues, as a reward.
Nihm's idea sounds good. mAges sending lower level people to go get them stuff sounds a fairly decent way of RP'ing and of getting reagents.
So maybe make it clear IG that the quests which drop alchemy items do so, and then high PC's can get groups together and send people on those quests if they wish to.
Would still be nice to have a better secondary option. It could still be less efficient than the first, but as it is you'll have 10 high level mages spamming for people to do a quest which is just the early version of what already happens now where they spam to buy the goods from that quest.
VP, there are lots of ways to make the same thing, but these consist of different recipes more than "substitute X for Y". Sometimes it can even be ""substitute X+Z for Y". Whiskey Bill has a few ways to make booze, using different numbers of ingredients of differing rarity. My last PC had I believe seven ways to make garlic tonics using items ranging from common animal drops up to rare reagents.
If you really want to know what craftable things can be directly substituted for dropped reagents, spend some research points. Some of the hints will tell you.
Quote from: VanillaPudding;201965Apparently not? :)
See, I thought you were suggesting to replace orc teeth with something more easily acquired. That was confusing.
QuoteIf you really want to know what craftable things can be directly substituted for dropped reagents, spend some research points. Some of the hints will tell you.
You're mistaken about this. But the system features many ways to make each thing. If one method features a reagent you can't get, you may be fortunate enough to get antoher recipe through trial and error, or from someone else. The main advantage being that the temptation to "find" the exact same method on a different character is mostly removed because you can hope to find another way to get to the same product.
I belive not long ago there was a suggestion of allowing two versions of a quest: the regular one, and a hard high-level version of it that substitues the enemies and boss for something stronger.
This would allow a level 9 wizard to do the observatory quest, yet it would be singificantly harder to get the reagents.
Might be better if the recipies changed every 2 or 3 months so they wouldn't be metagamed.
That would be a different suggestion I guess.
However, I do think the Seagull familiar should drop a feather once / reset - this idea courtesy of Laughing Octopus.
Or you know, if they don't already seagulls could drop a couple when they die?
They don't.
They drop them....very very rarely. That's kind of the point of this post!:O